1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to retail product packaging. More specifically, the present invention provides a retail product display package that is not only resistant to theft and tampering, but also inexpensive to manufacture.
2. Description of the Related Art
Theft is a problem that has long plagued retail establishments. High-margin goods, which are attractive to thieves because of their high price or high resale value, are of special concern to store owners who wish to avoid being driven out of business by shoplifters. Often, retail stores place these high-margin goods behind a glass counter for safekeeping. That way, store personnel do not have to occupy themselves with watching over customers to make sure they are not pilfering goods.
This solution is effective at preventing theft, but has the undesirable side effect of lowering sales. For a variety of reasons, many customers are uncomfortable asking a sales clerk to help them. Other customers are simply too impatient to wait for a busy clerk to get to them. No matter what the reason, if a customer cannot quickly and easily gain access to an item, he or she will not purchase it.
As an alternative to placing the goods in a protective case, many stores instead place high-margin items inside oversized packaging that will not fit within even the largest of pockets, and then place the packaging on shelves where customers can easily access the goods. The packaging is preferably tamper-resistant to prevent shoplifters from tearing, puncturing, cutting, or folding the packaging and concealing the item on their person before exiting the store.
Three basic types of oversized packaging are currently in use. The first, skin packs, consist of shrink wrap and cardboard. The product is placed within a cardboard frame, and then the unit is covered with shrink wrap to bind the product to the cardboard. The cardboard is usually covered with printing, such as product information or advertising, which is visible through the transparent shrink wrap. Product information printed directly on the packaging increases the chances that a customer will buy the product by informing him or her of its novel features and advantages over other similar products, while brightly colored advertising increases the product""s visibility on the shelf.
Skin packs have long been a favorite of retailers because of their low cost. By keeping the cost of the packaging low, the price of the packaged item remains low, thus increasing sales. Shoplifters, however, easily tamper with skin packs. Their flimsy construction, with cardboard and shrink wrap, makes them susceptible to being easily torn open. Once the packaging is compromised, the item within is easily pocketed and stolen. As a result, skin packs are not suitable for packaging high-price items.
A second type of oversized packaging, blister packs, consist of thermoformed plastic shells with cardboard. An example of this type of package is shown in U.S. Design Patent No. D438,104. The cardboard backing may be printed on directly and then secured to the transparent plastic clamshell by gluing, stapling or other convenient means.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,053,321 to Kayser discloses a blister pack display card with reusable container. The reusable plastic container is mounted to the display card in a tamper-resistant manner. The reusable container has a tray and a lid with the tray having frangible flanges thereon which are sealed to a presentation side of the display card. The lid has a deep channel which is received frictionally into the tray for securely closing the reusable container. Both the lid and the tray have enlarged finger engageable pull tabs for ease of opening the reusable container. Since the tray is heat sealed to the presentation side of the display card, any attempt to remove the tray from the display card will be evident, as the surface of the display card will be damaged.
Like skin packs, blister packs are also not strong enough theft deterrents to be suitable for packaging high-margin goods. A thief may discreetly tear the flimsy cardboard backing, enabling him or her to remove the product inside.
Another type of packaging that is more resistant to tampering than the blister pack is the clamshell. Clamshells consist of two molded pieces of transparent plastic, PVC, or other material that is difficult for human hands to tear. The pieces are sometimes mirror images of one another, with the edges of one half designed to mate or fit within the edges of the other.
To assemble the clamshell package the product is placed between the two halves, which are then brought together. The product placement and closing steps are difficult to automate, and so these steps are usually performed by a human. Once the package is closed, the edges are secured to each other with glue, heat or other means suitable to prevent the edges from being easily separated. Because the plastic is generally not suitable for accepting print, a colorful cardboard insert is usually placed between the two plastic halves in order to provide advertising or product information. This insert also must be positioned by human hands.
An example of a clamshell is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,623,062 to Chase et al., which discloses an anti-theft container for a compact digital audio disc. The container includes a fold-over album having an outer flat sheet of die cut, thin, soft PVC material, and an inner shell of thin, rigid, vacuum-formed PVC material. The inner shell has first and second square portions, each having a rib formed therein for engagement with one another when the album is folded over. A middle insert of advertising literature is sealed between the inner shell and the outer sheet. A fold-over protector member encloses the inner and outer shells. The protector member has a vacuum-formed, clear, rigid PVC shell, a rib, an extending flap, and a hinge therebetween for folding the protector member. The front of the protector member temporarily engages the first portion of the inner shell via the complementary ribs, whereas the flap of the protector member folds over the outer sheet of the album. The side edges of the protector member extend beyond the side edges of the inner shell and the outer sheet to provide an area for sealing the shell of the protector member to the flap of the protector member, without being sealed directly to the album. The protector member, when sealed, prevents the album from being folded and shoplifted.
A slightly different type of clamshell is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,143,218 to Brauckmann, which discloses a self-service package for containing small parts. The package includes a bottom part having a perimeter wall, thereby forming a cup shape. A lid, also having a perimeter wall that forms a cup shape, overlaps the perimeter wall of the bottom part to close the container. An adhesive label spans the boundary between the two halves to seal them together.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,771,888 to Lundeen discloses a standard audio cassette display and storage holder. The holder consists of a rigid back panel with a cassette holding area and a separate larger graphics area. The panel has a flange that carries cassette identification information and it also seals the open part of the cassette. The rigid back panel and cassette can be over-packaged for marketing with thin film shrink wrap.
Clamshells such as those just described are effective at deterring theft because they are difficult to fold, nearly impossible to tear open, and difficult to cut open without attracting attention. They are, however, quite expensive to manufacture. First, the plastic used to make them is usually quite thick, so material costs are high. Second, since the steps of placing the product and insert inside the packaging and closing the packaging are difficult to automate, labor costs are high. The high cost of the clamshell packaging raises the overall price that consumers must pay for products housed in such packaging. The higher the price, the lower the sales volume.
Two other types of packaging that are not necessarily designed to prevent theft, but that include two plastic members sealed to one another, are currently available. The first, a packaging for a COLGATE(copyright) toothbrush, comprises an open box made of rigid plastic and having a flexible plastic cover adhered to a rim of the box. The plastic cover includes printing. A tab on the corner of the cover enables a consumer to easily tear off the cover in order to access the product inside. The second packaging, a container for a roll of postage stamps, comprises a rigid plastic shell shaped either as a hollow cylinder with one open end, or as a U. The open end of the shell is covered with a flexible plastic seal that contains printing. The seal is easily peeled from the shell to access the stamps.
Therefore, an oversized product package that is difficult to deform or quietly tear open, is capable of displaying informative product information, and can be cheaply manufactured, would be of great benefit to the retail sales industry.
The printed-thermoplastic tamper-resistant package of this invention has several features, no single one of which is solely responsible for its desirable attributes. Without limiting the scope of this invention as expressed by the claims that follow, its more prominent features will now be discussed briefly. After considering this discussion, and particularly after reading the section entitled xe2x80x9cDetailed Description of the Drawings,xe2x80x9d one will understand how the features of this invention provide advantages, which include excellent resistance to tearing and folding, low cost of manufacture and ability to display informative product information.
The invention includes a flat sheet of thermoplastic, preferably PVC, PET, or other material that is resistant to puncture and tearing. Product information or advertising is printed directly upon one or both sides of the plastic. The plastic sheet is preferably permanently adhered to, and forms a backing for, a transparent molded-plastic cover.